The AI Commande

The success of his first opéra comique Le Huron (1769) won André-Modeste Grétry the high esteem and personal friendship of the Dauphine, after which the French court opened its doors to him and several of his works were performed there in succession. Official confirmation of his status came in 1773, when Louis XV and his court commissioned him to write a large-scale work for a special occasion: this was to be Céphale et Procris.

Le point de départ, c'est une commande de l'Opéra de Rouen Normandie : une œuvre pour un orchestre symphonique et le big band Tous Dehors, avec pour projet d'illustrer les différentes étapes de la vie, de la conception jusqu'à l'ultime souffle. Passé le stade de la création, il n'a pas été possible de rejouer la partition sur scène ni de faire un enregistrement avec l'effectif originel (une cinquantaine de musiciens). Laurent Dehors s'est donc remis à la tâche pour une version en effectif réduit : neuf musiciens, plus les deux solistes invités (Marc Ducret et Matthew Bourne) qui dialoguent avec l'orchestre. Le résultat est plus que convaincant de vitalité, de vivacité et de pertinence.

Hippolyte et Aricie was Rameau's first surviving lyric tragedy and is perhaps his most durable, though you wouldn't know it from the decades we had to wait for a modern recording. Now there are two: this one, conducted by Marc Minkowski, and William Christie's version on Erato. Choosing between the two is tough. Minkowski uses a smaller and probably more authentic orchestra, and with the resulting leaner sound, the performance has more of a quicksilver quality accentuated by Minkowski's penchant for swift tempos. His cast is excellent. The central lovers in the title are beautifully sung by two truly French voices, soprano Véronique Gens and especially the light, slightly nasal tenor of Jean-Paul Fourchécourt. In the pivotal role of the jealous Phèdre, Bernarda Fink is perfectly good but not in the exalted league of Christie's Lorraine Hunt. So there's no clear front-runner, but anyone interested in French Baroque opera must have at least one.

This 20cd box set dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the music of versailles. The box set is beautifully packaged with complete english translations featuring distinguished baroque artists such as les arts florissant's with william christie, les musiciens du louvre with marc minkowski, les talens lyriques with christophe rousset, paul agnew, bernarda fink, veronique gens, patricia petibon and many more.

In October 2007, the Centre Musical de Baroque de Versailles celebrated its 20th anniversary, together with the best French musicians around. To complete this anniversary, they now present the release of a 20-CD box with numerous musical highlights, both of the anniversary concerts as well as releases from the previous 20 years. Thanks to this jubilee box, you can now witness this landmark of French Baroque music.